John Glenn: A Memoir by John Glenn, Nick Taylor (With), John Glenn (Read by)

From the Publisher

He was the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth. Nearly four decades later, as the world's oldest astronaut, his courage riveted a nation. But these two historic events only bracket a life that covers the sweep of an extraordinary century. In this engrossing book, John Glenn tells the story of his unique life—one lived at the center of a momentous time in history by a man who helped shape that history.

He is the kind of hero who resists being called a hero. And yet his exploits in the service of his country, his dedication to family and friends, and his rock-ribbed traditional values have made this small-town boy from the Midwest a true American icon.

John Glenn's autobiography spans the seminal events of the twentieth century. It is a story that begins with his childhood in New Concord, Ohio, in the aftermath of World War I. It was there that he learned the importance of family, community, and patriotism. Glenn saw firsthand the ravages of the Depression and learned that determination, hard work, and teamwork could overcome any adversity. These were the values he carried with him as a Marine fighter pilot during World War II and into the skies over Korea, for which he would be decorated for his courage, dedication, and sacrifice. Glenn flew missions with men he would never forget, from baseball great Ted Williams to little-known heroes who would never return to their families. Always a gifted flier, it was during the war that he contemplated the unlimited possibilities of aviation and its next frontiers: speed and space.

John Glenn takes us into the cockpits of the experimental planes and spacecraft he flew to experience the pulse-pounding excitement of the early days of jet aviation, including his record-setting transcontinental flight in an F8U Crusader in 1957, and then on to his selection for the Project Mercury program in 1959. We see the early days of NASA, where he first served as a backup pilot for astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom and helped refine some of the initial cockpit and control designs for the Apollo program. In 1962 Glenn piloted the Mercury-Atlas 6 Friendship 7 spacecraft on the first manned orbital mission of the United States. Then came several years in international business, followed by a twenty-four-year career as a U.S. senator—and in 1998 a return to space for his remarkable Discovery mission at the age of seventy-seven.

This extraordinary book captures the unique alchemy that brings a man to the forefront of his time. Married to a woman he first met when they were both toddlers, known for his integrity, common sense, and leadership in the Senate, John Glenn tells a story that we must hear. For this narrative of steadfastness, devotion, courage, and honor is both a great adventure tale and a source of powerful inspiration for an age that needs John Glenn's values more than ever before.

About the Author:
John Glenn has spent most of his life in public service, as a distinguished U.S. senator and a veteran of twenty-three years in the Marine Corps, during which time he was awarded numerous medals for his achievements, as well as the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. He and his wife of fifty-six years, Annie, have two grown children and two grandchildren. They live near Washington, D.C., and in Columbus, Ohio.

Boston Globe - Hugh McDiarmid

Oh, it's not cosmic.

Or especially revealing.

Or in tune with the flashy, sometimes hyper prose used 20 years ago by Tom Wolfe in his famous book on the Mercury astronauts, The Right Stuff

Instead, it's just plain old John Herschel Glenn Jr. (with New York writer Nick Taylor), offering a steady, sober, Boy Scoutish and - especially for those captivated when he became the first American to orbit the Earth - absorbing memoir.

It stretches from his modest childhood in New Concord, Ohio, and marriage to his onetime playmate, Annie, through World War II and Korea as a Marine combat pilot, to his years as a test pilot and astronaut and finally - though briefly - to his 24-year stretch as a US senator from Ohio, until he retired at the end of 1998.

And, oh yes, wasn't Glenn, at age 77, the guy the space agency allowed back in orbit last year for the sake of geriatric science? Yes, that too is covered.

What's unusual, even refreshing, is that it's the unembellished, upbeat story of a lifetime of sometimes difficult, often heroic public service, without a hint of scandal or prurience save for the mild Senate rebuke Glenn suffered in 1991 for involvement in the so-called Keating Five loan scandal (a rebuke he describes as ''the low point of my life'' - and also ''unjustified''). In short, Glenn recounts his extraordinary life in frank, sometimes folksy but never extraordinary terms.

To be sure, parts of the book - thanks mostly to Wolfe's ''Right Stuff'' - are familiar. And Glenn's political life, including two failed tries for the Senate (he finally won election in 1974) and a clumsy presidential bid in 1984, are compressed into a mere three (of 26) chapters.

But what's clearly most important to Glenn are those patriotic ''right stuff'' years as a combat pilot, test pilot, and astronaut - as well as being a faithful husband and good father. And Glenn doesn't grind axes, spread rumors, dig around in anyone's closet, or revel too much in the public adoration that followed his orbital heroics. This book could well be entitled ''The Straight Stuff.'' When was the last time you read that kind of memoir?

Publishers Weekly

Glenn's utterly plainspoken yet thrilling autobiography will put a lump in readers' throats. The astronaut and four-term U.S. senator from Ohio seems to embody the best old-fashioned American values of integrity, personal discipline, love of country, honesty, courage and responsibility. At 37, Glenn was a frustrated navy bureaucrat stuck in a Washington desk job. Just four years later, in 1962, he became the first American to orbit the earth, piloting the Friendship 7 capsule and restoring national pride during the space race with the Soviet Union. Before that flight, he deadpanned to his wife: "Hey, honey, don't be scared. Remember, I'm just going down to the corner store to get a pack of gum." Glenn says he acquired a sense of unbounded possibility from his mother, an elementary schoolteacher, and his father, a coal-shoveling railroad worker who squeaked through the Depression and built up his own plumbing supplies company. Glenn's exploits as a pilot during WWII and Korea, as well as his high-altitude feats as a test pilot in the 1950s, are re-created with hair-raising immediacy in a gripping first-person narrative written with an assist from Taylor (whose books include the memoir A Necessary End). On a personal note, Glenn writes affectingly of his 56-year marriage to organist Annie Castor, with whom he played as a toddler; the strains of being a military family often having to move on short notice; his friendship with Robert Kennedy. The book closes with a heart-stopping account of his momentous return to space at age 77 in 1998 aboard space shuttle Discovery, an event that helped redefine the meaning of "old age." Told without an ounce of pretension, this is a memorable autobiography by a man who embraced public life and held it with a unique blend of Roman virtue and American confidence. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

John Glenn's life story reads like a Frank Capra movie: Small-town Ohio boy weathers the Depression nurtured by conservative patriotic values, marries his high school sweetheart, flies combat missions in two wars, is selected as one of the original Mercury astronauts, becomes an instant national hero as the first American to orbit the earth, is elected to the Senate, and, after serving for four terms, improbably returns to space aboard the Shuttle at age 77. Glenn's account of his storybook life rings as true as his All-American Boy Scout image that Tom Wolfe caricatured in The Right Stuff. Yet even Glenn's long career was not totally immune from the hint of scandal, as he recounts his tangential role in the Keating S&L scandal. Still, in the current national climate, Glenn's account of his life and times provides a refreshing contrast to the public cynicism that all too often attaches to public figures. Recommended for public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 8/99.]--Thomas J. Frieling, Bainbridge Coll. Lib., GA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-In his memoir, Glenn takes listeners through the grueling tests and preparations for the flight, as well as through the enormous differences between his solo flight of just under five hours in 1962 and his voyage of 36 years later as part of the team of seven aboard the shuttle Discovery. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

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